Countless FFA members helped to tie the blankets for over 60 kids in the Trinity Weekend Backpack Food Program Holiday Boxes for families in need. It is an amazing experience to do something for others! Pictured here is the FFA crew who tied the blankets! L to r – front: Arianna Moore, Nevaeh Moore, Arianna Guerra, Alexis Hoffman, Kylie Fischer, Kamille Capacia, Paola Gonzalez, Lucia Martinez Paredes, Charlie Hoffmann, Alex Confer, Jaelynn Schauman. Middle: Taylor Berkner, Sam Price, Jace Schauman, Kaliya Confer, Anna Johnson, Natalie Fulmer, Kaylie Fulmer, Maddy Goldschmidt, Lily Kallevig, Nora Coulson, Karina Martinez, Carter Lazatin, Carter Lazatin, Jony Flores, Mateo Hornsby. Back: Dillon Gerzsik, Emerson Johnson, Daniel Armstrong, Robert Romberg, Ava Sellner, Ella Arkins, Breanna Lopez, Catherine Simonsen, Ari Krzmarzick, Kayden Klein, Noah Rossbach, Logan Ludewig, James Moore, Cameron Moore.
This year, the Sleepy Eye FFA is Living to Serve by helping Trinity with the Weekend Backpack Food Program and especially the Holiday Boxes and gifts. The Sleepy Eye FFA Chapter applied for a National FFA Yearlong Living to Serve Grant as well as an Innovation in Service Grant in order to help with the Trinity Backpack program which includes food bags each week and Holiday Gift Boxes. With the generosity of the National FFA, Tractor Supply Company, Cargill, CoBank, Elanco, and Dominos, the Living to Serve Grant became a reality for the Sleepy Eye FFA.
The Backpack program is where students at risk for hunger receive bags of food for the weekend with two family meals – main dishes, fruit, vegetables, and a snack. The FFA grant money is being used to help with several extensions of the Backpack Food Program: Birthday boxes for each elementary participant, fruit in each food bag, snack pantry for elementary and high school students as well as personal care items for the Holiday Boxes. We also gave out hats and gloves for each child and made tie blankets for each child in the program that the families picked up this past week.
This fall, members made all of the Birthday Boxes for the children who had birthdays this semester. In October, members and officers went to Mark Thomas Co. to pack meals and made the tie blankets at their November meeting. In December, they purchased all of the personal care items and made cards for the Holiday Boxes. We continue to purchase fruit for the weekly meals as well as provide the snack pantry for the elementary and high school students and birthday boxes for the students in the program.
The FFA is thrilled to be a part of this amazing project that the Trinity church conducts in cooperation with Sleepy Eye Public Schools, along with numerous community partners, providing food to students all school year long. Some of the partners include: Central Region Cooperative, Brown County United Way, Land ‘O Lakes, Sleepy Eye FFA and other community members.
Receiving these grants and helping with this project was a great way for Sleepy Eye FFA members to contribute to the community and build relationships while doing so.